Leaders of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement – minus their New York-based leader – go on trial today in Beijing as Chinese police impose tense order in Tiananmen Square.

The four leaders – Li Chang, Wang Zhiwen, Ji Liewu and Yao Jie – are facing charges that their exercise and meditation program followed by millions of Chinese but outlawed five months ago is a menace to public health and a threat to Communist Party rule.

There are concerns that the trial could spark renewed protests at the famed site of the pro-democracy movement of a decade ago.

Yesterday, dozens of police and security officers patrolled among tourists and others enjoying a bright day in the square, which has been the site of repeated low-key Falun Gong protests since the July 22 ban on the group was imposed.

Thirty-thousand “practitioners” of the exercise regimen were rounded up, and there were protests in 30 cities.

The goal of Falun Gong – which means “Wheel of Life” – is enlightenment and a “moral life” free of disease.

But Chinese leaders claim the group’s unorthodox practices – especially encouraging followers to forgo medical treatment – led to the deaths of more than 1,400 people. In outlawing the group, the government has called Falun Gong a menace to public well-being and an unprecedented threat to Communist Party rule.

Yet, the movement’s leader has eluded authorities. As a resident of Queens, the 48-year-old Li has kept a low profile since the group’s activities were banned in China.

Over the summer, he told The Post that aliens are living among us, that a year 2000 apocalypse is coming unless people join Falun Gong, and that a Buddhist monk singled him out when he was 4.

“I know why the Chinese government considers us a threat,” he said. “It’s because we have … more members than the Communists.”

Li settled in Queens with his wife and 16-year-old daughter in 1997, a year after China banned the sales of his books.

From his self-imposed exile, Li expressed concerned that Chinese authorities will try to provoke violence.

“I am deeply worried that another June 4th will take place,” he said, referring to the brutal crushing of the pro-democracy student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Beijing’s No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court is expected to sentence the four Falun Gong members – all Communist Party members – to 20 years or more in prison for “using an evil cult to undermine the implementation of laws” and other crimes, the Information Center said.